S
tupid man.
Olivia tossed the fellow over her shoulder and then rolled across the floor. In an upward twist, she jumped to her feet, prepared for another attack. Sweat poured down her face and her muscles ached, but she ignored all that as she waited for the next challenge.
“Enough.”
She turned to the man controlling the exercise. Arms crossed, Collin stood on the sidelines wearing loose sweatpants and a sleeveless sweatshirt. Nice muscles to show he worked out but not obsessively as to be bulky. What a shame she still hadn’t gotten him out of his clothes.
And goodness knows she wanted to. But ever since their time in the dark, he never gave her a chance to be alone with him. Someone was always around. If not Rex or another operative, then he made sure the guards stood nearby. So much for his believing her promise not to escape.
Today, she’d thought of a way he would have to touch her.
“Over three months ago you’d said
we
would exercise.” She grinned. “So far, it has been
me
exercising.”
With hands on her hips, she waited to see if he would accept her challenge. He’d gone missing the last two weeks and no one would say if he would return or when. She hated to admit she’d gotten used to having him around, teasing her with his presence, mocking her when she tried to encourage his advances. Crap! She was a glutton for punishment.
Speaking of gluttons, her exercise partner chuckled and slapped a towel around his neck as he glanced at Collin. “I can understand you’re nervous. She moves like she’s done this all her life.”
She found it fascinating how the OS people treated Collin as if he was one of them. At The Circle, no one would be brave enough to even hint at Theo for being nervous about anything. For that matter, she doubted Theo had ever taken personal interest in an operative’s training. He’d never been concerned about her even when she shared his bed.
“Come on. Exercise with me.” She crooked her finger.
Collin looked away as if he needed time to think. Then he moved into his stance, ready for their sparring. The next ten minutes produced a blur of kicks and throws she was sure she would regret tomorrow. When she landed chest first onto the mat and all her breath swooshed out, she stayed down.
Give her a gun. She’d show him her special skills.
“Olivia?” He stooped next to her, pressing fingers against the side of her throat while brushing her hair out of her face. “Are you all right?”
“Just . . . trying . . . to get . . . my breath back.”
After a few seconds, she was able to take a complete lung full of air and felt better even though she was embarrassed by her performance. Had the other operative been playing with her or was Collin that much better?
“Hey, Collin, can I talk with you a moment?” a harsh voice said off to the side.
As Olivia sat up with Collin’s help, Rex hovered near the mat looking antsy.
“Sure.” Collin nodded and turned his attention back to her. “Stay here. Dr. Shelton will be here in a minute to look you over.”
“Oh, hell, no.” She wasn’t about to let that woman touch her again. “Nothing’s wrong. Just had the breath knocked out of me. I’ll go back to my apartment.”
“She can come too. We can use her,” Rex said without hesitation.
She? She had a name and didn’t like the thought of anyone using her. But what the hey? Maybe an opportunity would come up and she could use it against Big Foot.
Conscious of her sweaty body, she hung back, feeling like a midget following two giants. Instead of riding the elevator to what she guessed would be Rex’s office, the pair led her down a couple hallways and then into what looked like a study. Books lined the walls and a massive desk reigned in the far corner. The plush carpet screamed expensive and the room smelled of Collin, that special masculine scent.
“We—”
“Wait,” Collin interrupted Rex and turned to Olivia. “You do understand if you betray us in any way, I’ll have no option but to terminate our understanding in every aspect.” He took the chair behind the desk.
“Like you had to spell it out to me again.” She rolled her eyes. “If The Circle even suspects I’m still alive, I’m a marked woman. They would issue a termination decree. So you can only hope I live long enough to be useful.”
No matter the years of service or how loyal she’d proven herself over and over again, she was as good as dead once The Circle learned she’d been captured alive by the OS. Collin’s threat didn’t disturb her at all. It had been expected. She’d lived with the knowledge she could die at any minute.
How different was it to serve one organization over another? Irony continued to screw with her life. The only difference between the organizations was that one was apparently more relaxed than the other, though both were deadly. And there was no doubt of why she enjoyed life like she did—taking strange men to bed for a one-night stand and leaving them wondering what in the hell happened.
With that thought, she eased into a leather chair situated before the desk. She examined the profile of the one man she wanted and never had. The firm jaw with a five o’clock shadow. His brow furrowed in concentration. His hair was a little longer but still thick, and the cocoa color tempted her fingers to play in it. Wherever he’d gone, the temperature must’ve been warm as he sported a nice even tan.
“We’ve tracked down Mason Redmond,” Rex announced as he remained standing, arms akimbo.
That got her attention. If it was the same Mason she’d heard of, he was a nasty piece of work affiliated with not one of the largest but certainly one of the deadliest terrorist groups, Inferno. They believed the only way to bring in a new world order was to see the world burn. The Circle had been looking for the leader for around two years.
“What do you know about Mason?” Collin handed her a small file. Inside showed a lanky man with bright red hair and freckles across his nose. He looked like the good neighbor who grew up on a farm and attended church on Sundays.
“He’s a crazy son of bitch who wants to be king of the world.” She handed the file back to him. Collin and Rex stared at her, waiting for her to add more information. She shifted in her seat and crossed her arms. “I really don’t know a lot about him as I pretty much stayed out of his way. Until I’m instructed to take a target out, I never investigate. I did hear he liked to watch.”
“People burning?” Rex asked.
She shook her head. “No. Fucking. He likes watching people screw each other.” Why did they have such surprised expressions on their faces? Were they expecting her to blush? Maybe if they’d grown up like she had, they would see the act as a way to control the people around them and nothing more. “Oh, he especially likes married women. He gets a kick out of doing the wife. Then later he’ll get the husband to fuck his wife in front of him so he can compare techniques. It’s amazing what money can buy. As far as I know, he doesn’t do the husband.”
The big guy blushed. How funny was that? Obviously he’d never been made to strip and fellatio someone on command.
“Have you alerted the team?” Collin asked, looking at Rex. She grinned. He probably asked mainly to help Rex get his mind off what she’d said.
“Yeah. We leave at zero eight hundred hours for Phoenix.” Rex’s glance chilled her to the bone. “Is she going with us?”
“She’s got the right equipment to grab his attention. You have a problem with that?” Collin leaned forward. By his stance alone she could tell he dared his friend to protest. How sweet, he was taking up for her. She knew there was something she liked about him besides his body.
“She’s your problem.” Rex shrugged. “You know she’d fuck you over good if you let her.”
“You both do know I’m here and hearing this, right?” she pointed out. Rex actually growled. Well, wasn’t he pleasant? What had she done to him?
Collin shifted his attention to her. “Olivia, in operations like this one, most of us partner up with another operative. This way, we look after each other. As a couple we’re actually less noticeable. You and I’ll go as a married couple. We’ll fly into Phoenix. If anyone asks, we’re traveling up to the Grand Canyon. There’s a resort we have reservations at near Camelback where sponsors of several NASCAR drivers celebrate after the big race. Mason has been known to crash the party.”
“Goody. One hotel room and marital duties.” She grinned big. Part of it was an act to aggravate Rex; the other part was pure anticipation. Yeah. She needed other things occupying her mind as she worked her wiles on getting Collin into bed. Her obsession with the man on the other side of the desk was getting out of hand. Once they did what came natural, her obsession would be over.
Rex muttered a stream of filthy expletives.
Eyes wide, she hooted. “You do know most of those are impossible. Goodness knows I tried a couple.”
The big man’s face pinked. “If she doesn’t have any more information on Mason, I believe she can go.” Rex’s pleading look toward Collin was pitiful. The way the big guy opened and closed his fists, she should probably count herself lucky to get out of the meeting alive.
Frowning at her, Collin nodded toward the door. “I’ll fill you in later. Go ahead and get lunch. Pack what you usually take on a four-day operation.”
She should be pissed by their little jock attitude, but considering she was looking forward to her one-on-one time with Collin, nothing really bothered her. Now she needed to plan how she could make him let go of his morals with her. Strange to think of the head of OS as having morals. One of the many things she’d learned during her months with them. Besides, that had to be the reason why he hadn’t taken her up on her offers. Her heart thumped at a double rate. It wouldn’t do for them to see how excited she was at the prospect.
“Well, okay. Don’t you two guys talk about me much.” When she glanced over to Rex to say something snarky, she caught Collin’s expression from the corner of her eye. He shook his head, letting her know she was pushing it. “Okay, okay. I’m going.”
After closing the door behind her, she leaned against it. Whoa. She hadn’t realized how intense the atmosphere had gotten. Looking down the hallway, she smelled garlic bread. Oh, she would love to indulge but after the beating she’d gotten this morning, she needed to work on her technique. Something told her she would have another opportunity to best Collin. Tracking and planning eliminations rarely required the skills she’d used during her first few years with The Circle.
Heading toward the exercise area, she ignored the two guards following a few feet behind. In her short time with the OS, she never learned their names as they said it wasn’t important for her to know. When they did talk to her, they mostly told her no. So she called them Beavis and Butt-head.
She passed the first room and continued toward the second exercise room. Two women stood to the side, talking and glancing her way. One was Dr. Shelton and the other woman she didn’t recognize.
“Hey, Olivia.” The doctor smiled and waved her over. “Have you seen Collin and Rex lately?”
“They’re having a man-to-man talk. I wanted to get away from all the testosterone for a little while.” Crap, what was this? Every time she turned around she was explaining herself to people. So not her.
The doctor nodded. “Have you met Nic Savage?”
Olivia’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’re a girl.” This was OS’s head of security? How politically forward. Tickled to know the organization that had extorted her into working for them were equal opportunity employers, she stuck her hand out to the tiny black-haired woman.
When the security officer sneered at her offered hand, Olivia straightened her spine. So she was going to be like that. How disappointing. One of Olivia’s interests included computers and she’d spent many an off-duty hour talking to the information services experts at The Circle. Though she would never call them friends, she knew they’d respected her interest and skills in that area. By picking their brains, she was able to set up a state-of-the-art security system.
“Actually I’m a grown
woman
and oversee a department that has four personnel in the hospital because of you and the primitive precautions you used to protect your poorly decorated fortress.” The woman might be small, but she had a sharp tongue.
With one eyebrow lifted, Olivia crossed her arms and shifted to her left hip. “You and I both know there wasn’t anything primitive nor was it personal about what I’d set up. If you don’t have your computers rigged here with the same type of explosives, it only proves how delusional you are.”
Nic moved toward Olivia, but the doctor jumped in front of her. “No, Nic. She’ll wipe the floor with you and not blink an eye.”
Olivia’s opinion of the good doctor spiked. The two moved toward the elevator with the doctor clasping Nic’s arm and whispering to her the whole way. Over her shoulder, Nic glared at Olivia.
Of course, the only response perfect for the moment was to blow her a kiss. Olivia couldn’t help but smirk when the woman gasped and struggled as the doctor forced her out the door.
When she looked back at her guards, they merely shrugged their shoulders. She had no illusions of who the guards would protect. She could only hope to get in a hit or two before they stopped her.
Later in the day with no sign of Collin, she headed back to her apartment. Was he hiding from her? She laughed, thinking of the dangerous man lurking around corners to avoid her. For whatever reason, he’d told the guards she could come and go as she pleased from her apartment as long as she didn’t ditch them. The two big fellows hovered about eight feet away when she spotted a familiar face sitting on an overstuffed chair in one of the alcoves divided by potted plants. Eyes half-closed like a wild beast in captivity, he studied each person who walked by.
Lucian Reilly hadn’t changed one bit. He still exuded coldness and mystery some women found attractive. The same ones who read vampire novels and thought they were hot. She never understood it or why The Circle used him as a lady killer, literally. His specialty involved getting up close and personal with a woman and using her, and if the need arose, to not be squeamish about using force or killing the woman. The last she’d heard was that OS had killed him during an operation in San Francisco. Apparently that wasn’t true.